Just off the southeastern coast of mainland China, lies a group of two islands collectively called Kinmen. For over seventy years, these islands have occupied a unique position in the delicate relationship between China and Taiwan.

Kinmen Islands’ location is the most peculiar. The islands sit in a small bay practically surrounded by the Chinese mainland, yet it is governed by Taiwan, which lies approximately one hundred miles away across the Taiwan Strait. The political status of Taiwan itself is a contentious issue with the Taiwanese people declaring themselves as an independent nation, and China still maintaining a claim on the island it received as war spoils after the end of the Second World War.